In testing I did with a Canon 580EX flash and fully charged batteries, the eneloops recycled the flash to red light from a full-power flash in 2.9 seconds, the eneloop xx in 3.1 seconds.

This was with fresh batteries, and of course it would be longer with partially discharged batteries. But I would expect the relative difference to remain similar. So is the nominally 7% faster recycle time worth the cost difference to you?

whenever the question of AA batteries comes up on here (and most other places) the default answer is Eneloop .
But I found I didnt have to buy 'proper' eneloops to get the same quality. I had a set of standard eneloops but wanted a whole bunch more. I found (thru amazon) that 7Dshop did a version of the 'Low discharge' rechargable . I bought quite a few sets over 2 years ago now. Ive used them and the original set of eneloops in just about anything in the house as well as my camera gear. all sets (that havnt been lost) are still working as they did when they arrived.
ive lost a few now so will be getting a few more sets soon.

I use a combination of batteries and all work fine, though the Rayovac rechargeables perform the worst, Engergizer somewhere in the middle and Eneloops the best -- the differences aren't huge so far, though I've got a running log of recharge performance (max mAH performance).

For a charger, I use a LaCrosse BC-700. It's a 4-bay charger that will do AAA or AA, individual charge channels, though the current on the channels is dictated by the first battery entered (so I can charge 1 or 4, but if I charge 4 they all follow the current set by 1). It's great except if I want to run a discharge/refresh cycle (which takes forever), because then I wish I had an 8-bay at least.

If you go with LaCrosse (and maybe Maja) make sure you keep one of those cheap quick chargers that usually come with the batteries. At least with my LaCrosse, if the cell drops below a certain voltage, it will not charge it. Instead, you have to charge it with the cheaper charger for a few seconds to "jump start" it, then change it back over to the LaCrosse.